Borsani’s Masterpiece

The name Leo Gerstenzang is not familiar to most people, but his invention, the Q-Tip has played a part of everyone’s daily life since the 20s, and made its inventor fortune. When his daughter Zuita and her husband Joseph Akston, founder of Art Magazine, got married in the 70s, they built a home in Florida and commissioned brilliant architect/designer Osvaldo Borsani (1911-85) to complete the task. The result was a glamour integrated interior in the most stylish look of the time, a testimony to 1970s décor. Each of the hundreds of pieces of furniture and lights was designed particularly for that interior, each is unique, each came to play a role in the entire scheme. Borsani, founder of Tecno (with his brother Fulgenzio) was at that time one of Italy’s most renowned and successful talents and this was the only commission he had completed in the US. Now, that the third generation of the Akstons decided to sell the entire content of the house, it is possible to take home one pieces of this narrative. They will be offered in the upcoming auction at Bonhams’ New York this Friday at 10 am.